Roid Lion damn near killed River People with chops to the throat and by military-press dropping him face first on the mat. Old Lion hit a nice belly to belly suplex on Nakanishi. These Young Lion matches can be more fun than main events on these road-to shows.

Lance Archer looked impressive with a huge flying tackle on Rowe that send him flying head over heels. Odd that Makabe and TAKA are involved in the finish, as this match was all KES vs. War Machine.

Rocky Romero & Will Ospreay vs. Hiromu Takahashi & Bushi

Ospreay takes out Hiromu on the outside with a Sasuke Special Dive, allowing Romero to pin Bushi with a running knee.

My Take:

Ospreay comes to the ring in whiskers & cat nose face paint, and Romero comes to the ring in his Black Tiger mask. Ospreay also has dyed his hair this odd tint of whitish-blue. A fun NJPW Jr. heavyweight tag match.

David Finlay & Juice Robinson vs. Leo Tonga & Chase Owens

Chase Owens stops Leo Tonga from attacking Juice. Chase tells Juice Kenny has a message for him, and sets up Juice for the One Wing Angel. Juice escapes, dispatches Owens and hits Pulp Friction on Leo Tonga for the win.

Sanada turns the tables on Yano, low-blowing him with the ref distracted. Sanada then rolls Yano up for the pinfall victory.

My Take:

Yano up to his typical comedy antics, which works fine in throw-away matches like this one. Ishii as always looked strong and impressive. LIJ vs. Chaos, I enjoy watching these factions face-off against each other.

El Desperado eliminates Kushida with a roll-up after Iizuka hit him with his iron claw glove.

Tanahashi eliminates El Desperado off the ring apron

Iizuka eliminates Tanahashi off the ring apron.

Elgin eliminates Iizuka via pinfall with an Elgin Bomb.

Elgin WINS the match by dropkicking Suzuki off the ring apron

My Take:

I like that the match came down to Elgin vs. Suzuki as a prelude to tomorrow main event for the NEVER Openweight title. Suzuki-gun’s heel antics get real old real quick. I’d love to see them generate heel heat without resorting to the same old shit. Nice to see Elgin pick up the win, i’m a big fan of his, though unfortunately I don’t see him taking the title off of Suzuki tomorrow.

Overall Take:

Another very average show. Well except for the young lions, they continue to shine and impress. Tomorrow is the first Destruction show, and hopefully the NEVER Openweight title defense will live up to the main event billing it has received.